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An exasperated Andy Roddick said the ATP men's tour must give players more time to rest during the season or risk shortening the careers of the "stars" of the sport.Andy Roddick of the US reacts to a missed point against John Isner of the US during their match at the US Open in New York REUTERS - 0More Stories

* Henin granted Australian Open wildcard

The world number six lost to qualifier Lukasz Kubot in the first match of his title defence at the China Open last week and said then that the top players were playing too much tennis.

He renewed his attack at the Shanghai Masters while admitting the ultimate negotiating tool, a players' strike, was unlikely.

"I think it's ridiculous to think that you have a professional sport that doesn't have a legitimate off season to rest, get healthy, and then train," the 27-year-old said at his 16th tournament of the season.

World number one Roger Federer pulled out of Shanghai citing fatigue, while number three Andy Murray blamed a wrist injury for his absence from the inaugural tournament.

"I don't think that's all of one big coincidence, and I just hope that the shortsightedness doesn't affect the length of careers," he said. "I think in tennis you definitely want your stars around as long as possible."

The top 30 men's players are obliged to play the four two-week grand slam events and eight of the nine Masters Series tournaments.

In addition, their best four results in ATP 500 events and best two in lower level tournaments count towards their rankings, effectively meaning they must play at least 18 a year.

"We've been talking about this forever, and now we get slapped with mandatory tournaments," said the 2003 US Open champion.

"We don't really have a whole lot of choices in the matter, which I don't think is the right way to go about it."

Roddick thought the men could learn from the WTA women's tour, which reorganised its calendar for this season and reduced the number of mandatory events from 13 to 10.

The American expressed his frustration that the people with the power to change things were often the same people who ran the tournaments, which was "a little bit of a conflict of interest".

The players were unlikely to boycott an event, however, he said.

"I don't think any of us wants to (strike), because even more so than feeling a responsibility to the powers that be in tennis, we feel a responsibility to the fans," he said.

"We don't want to alienate our fans. It's a tough situation, and that's why I think that we've put up with it as long as we have."

Spain's Rafael Nadal agreed with the American that the playing year was too long.

"It's impossible to play from January 1 to December 5, no sport can do it," said the world number two. "I don't know what the solution is, but it must be changed and soon."Reuters

for the record -- Roddick has said these things, along with other players like Rafael, Novak, etc..-

BEFORE today's terrible injury.

whether this is partly because of "end-of-year" exhaustion that a player starts to compensate in some way in his playing and then incurs injuries, or whether it is ascribable to a player's "style"...

it is still a demonstrable example of how players become so "used up" , if not entirely, then in large part, due to the schedule , especially from being "required" to play what perhaps their own bodies can't really sustain.

take note:

the top players STILL generally play between 15-20 tournaments per year.

LOWER ranked players tend to actually play MORE (some up to 25 or more) tournaments although on the whole tend to have fewer matches PER tournament due to being beaten earlier than most top players.

I found it interesting that Wawrinka commented/complained to the chair that this is the second time in three matches "he retired after three games against me". Besides being a bit of an exaggeration, perhaps Stan should consider himself lucky. After all, the only match Roddick completed against Wawrinka ended in a Roddick victory.

I'm slightly worried - whenever I hear someone say they heard a "pop" as Andy said, not good - that so often mean a ligament and that takes a lot of time to heal. Fingers crossed but ...

And Stan - yeah what the heck was that about? I was watching and the camera and mike were right there when he said that to the ump ... the way it came out sounded to me like he was making some sort of an accusation. What was that about?

Hoiha and Craig, I watched the match last night (replay) to hear for myself what Stan said, and it sounded to me like Stan was thinking that perhaps he brings a bit of bad luck to Andy whenever they play seeing as how each time they have played Andy has had to retire. To me it was not said with malice but more akin to disbelief that this could be happening to Andy again.

Marat Safin bid farewell to his adoring Chinese fans after defeat at the Shanghai Masters but not before taking a swipe at his opponent Tomas Berdych and American Andy Roddick.Marat Safin of Russia reacts after a missed point against Gong Mao Xin of China during the Shanghai Masters REUTERS - 0More Stories

* Del Potro latest to retire in Shanghai * Shanghai Masters gallery

The big Russian, who is retiring after next month's Paris Masters, suggested Berdych had feigned injury during his 3-6 6-4 6-4 win and said the Czech needed to "grow up".

Then he rounded on Roddick and other players who have complained about the length of the season, saying he had suggested it should be made shorter in 2004 but had been shouted down.

The 29-year-old refused to shake Berdych's hand after the match because his opponent called on the trainer to treat his knee in their second-round contest.

"Just come on; just grow up a little bit; 26 years old; just deal with that," he said. "If you're losing, just be a man; be a man and lose as a man.

"Don't pretend that you are injured and then you start running around and start to hit winners and then all of a sudden you pull the hands up in the air after winning the match?

"So then of course the guy will say: 'No, I've been injured but then I felt a little bit better'.

"Of course he will find 10,000 excuses. Still, it's not enough. You're playing or you're not playing. If you're playing, so just shut...up and play."

On Monday, Roddick called on the ATP to reduce the length of the men's season or risk shortening the careers of top players such as Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

"In 2004 we had this discussion in Olympic Games with Roddick about it and they were blaming me that I'm playing too much," said former world number one Safin.

"And I was saying that the season is too long. We should make it shorter. And the guys, they jumped on me, like I was the one who was wrong.

"So look at all of them -- everybody is falling apart. Everybody is getting injured left and right, and everybody is complaining the season is long. It takes six years to realise that something is wrong?

"They just have to deal with that, not when they are 21 and ambitious and want to make money. They have to think a little bit with their brains and to make the career a little bit longer."Reuters